2014 Montreal - Semifinals

I'm pretty happy and excited for these semifinals, especially since I managed to get 3/4 of my predictions right! Unfortunately Azarenka is injured again, and now it is questionable whether or not she'll play Cincinnati or even defend her US Open title... Onto the semifinal predictions:

[1] Serena Williams vs. Venus Williams

This was the one matchup I was especially looking forward to yesterday, as the last time the Williams sisters have played was in 2013 in Charleston, with Serena winning quite easily, 6-1, 6-2. Before that there had been a 4 year gap, with both sisters being injured and Venus being diagnosed with Sjorgren's. The H2H currently stands at 14-10, with Serena leading, but nothing much can be read into that, as these matches go as far back as 1998! In this particular match, I think that both players will be extremely aggressive, and going for their shots, but I think that Serena will again be able to win this match, as Venus hasn't been deep in too many tournaments and her Sjorgren's is still somewhat of an unknown factor - she may be quite fatigued after having to play 3 3-set matches already. Nonetheless, I still think that Venus is someone who will fight especially hard to win at least a set, and prove that she isn't to be discounted as a dark horse for the US Open.

Prediction: Serena Williams 2-1

[3] Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Ekaterina Makarova

This semifinal is much more difficult to predict, mainly because of the form that both players have been in, with Makarova playing extremely well to get to this stage of the competition. Currently, the H2H sits at 3-2 in favour of Radwanska, but she has not been able to defeat her since 2011 last year. For this matchup, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Makarova is going to win, because I think she has a lot of confidence going into this tournament, with good wins over Kvitova and Vandeweghe. Also, I think that in the past two matches, Makarova has been really good at reading Radwanska's play, which will become extremely critical in this match. In saying that, the past two matches have been straight sets wins for Makarova, but this time I see it going the distance, with Makarova having to win the match in three. Also, I want to see another Makarova - Williams (Serena or Venus) match because they have been especially tense and well-fought matches.

Prediction: Ekaterina Makarova 2-1

Having seen Makarova win in Pattaya City this year, it would be really good of her to reach her first ever Premier 5 final, after having won Eastbourne in 2010. No matter what, all 4 players are fantastic and both the semifinals and the final should be fantastic this year. And as always, please share this blog with others if you enjoy it and comment below if you agree or disagree with my predictions!